one of the best ways you can connect to your most awesome person, increase engagement with your brand online, and communicate about your business in an authentic way is by storytelling. and the best part of using storytelling as a strategy that every business, no matter what you sell, can use it. you can make it completely YOU.

the question is what story do you tell?

use your brand to decide. remember, your brand is the message you send to the world about your business. and while you do send that message with the look of your brand (the visual components: your logo, colours, fonts, graphics etc.) you also send the message with the voice of your brand (the written components: the copy on your website, your blog posts, emails, newsletter content, product descriptions etc.)

what better way to have a strong, clear voice for your brand than to tell stories!

the first step is to know what your brand message is. what is it that you want people to know about your business? what are the key things you want people to think of when they come in contact with your business? what does your business stand for? what is the promise you make to your customers?

once you have that brand message clear in your mind, the next step is to think of ways you can communicate it to people. if you are having trouble imaging what you can possibly say, what story you can tell, imagine standing in your ‘shop’ chatting to your most awesome customer at the front counter. you don’t need to tell her the price, the colours of your products or the sizes available… she can see those things already.

so, what story can you tell her that really demonstrates your brand message?

consider:

your own passion for what you do

what it is you believe in

your expertise, talent & skills

the process that goes into providing that product

the inspiration behind your product

the goal you have in offering this product to the world

the ways in which your really understand your customer's needs

the ways in which you have figured out how to solve their problems

something interesting, unique or not well known about your product

something funny, silly or entertaining

something frustrating, anger inducing, or tear-jerking

something the last customer told you about that you just have to share

something that gets to the heart of the emotions in relation to the products you sell

something that would let your customer know that she is not alone

now you probably don’t have a shop in which to stand around and talk to customers. so...

where can you tell stories?

blog

facebook page

newsletter & emails

brochures & flyers

youtube videos

twitter posts & vine videos

podcasts

product inserts

thank you notes & cards

website about me page, FAQ pages

product descriptions

why use storytelling?

stories are memorable - they might be the most memorable thing about a customer’s experience in doing business with you.

a story is something you often repeat and share - what a way to build some word of mouth!

a story is something a person can really connect with or relate to - people can picture themselves in the story.

a story makes you real & makes you likeable - people tend to buy from people they like.

stories make your products different from everyone else’s - they make your business stand out!

stories draw people in - once their interest is piqued they want to know more!

hot tip: include images as you tell the stories about your biz & brand

storytelling with images works well to capture our attention plus feed our curiosity, our thirst for more info. try using images as teasers, sneak peeks, hints, previews, snippets, reveals, and more. the idea here is that we don’t know the full story yet but we want to know more.

this can work really well when sharing stories on facebook. we know that when people engage with your posts on facebook they are likely to see more of your posts on facebook, so getting people to engage with your teasers means they will be more likely to see the big reveal or the rest of the story when you post that next!

what stories can you tell that send your brand message loud and clear?